1. Technology Field
The present invention generally relates to a flash memory storage system, and more particularly, to a flash memory storage system for simulating a rewritable disc device, a flash memory controller, a computer system equipped with the flash memory storage system, and a method for simulating a rewritable disc.
2. Description of Related Art
A rewritable digital versatile disc (DVD) drive is an optical disc storage device. A DVD has gradually replaced the conventional compact disc (CD) for storing high-definition video data, high-quality audio data, and large data thanks to the large capacity thereof. A DVD has to be accessed through an optical pickup of a DVD drive. However, because of the large volume and high power consumption of the DVD drive 2002 (as shown in FIG. 1A), a small computer (for example, a netbook) is usually not equipped with any DVD drive, which is very inconvenient to the user. In addition, because the DVD drive 2002 uses a mechanical optical pickup to read data from or burn data into the DVD 2004, the access speed of the DVD drive 2002 is very slow. Moreover, the DVD 2004 is inconvenient to be carried around due to the large volume thereof.
Aforementioned problems can be resolved if the DVD drive 2002 is replaced by a flash drive 2006 having a flash memory as its storage medium because of the data non-volatility, low power consumption, small volume, and non-mechanical structure of the flash memory.
A universal serial bus (USB) storage device using a flash memory as its storage medium is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,121, wherein the USB storage device simulates a CD-ROM device so that data stored in the USB storage device can be prevented from being accidentally deleted. However, a user cannot rewrite data by using the CD-ROM device simulated by the USB storage device and therefore the requirement of data rewritability cannot be satisfied.
Nothing herein should be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art of any portion of the present invention. Furthermore, citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention, or that any reference forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art.